Castle of Black Iron

After digesting 7 seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas, a fruit of brilliance and a fruit of judgment, Zhang Tie came out of the Castle of Black Iron on the 7th day.

Seven-strength fruit of iron-teeth hyena was the most powerful seven-strength fruit that Zhang Tie had ever eaten. As a fruit of LV 1 living being, the total of its seven strengths were far more than that of wild-wolf seven-strength fruit and demon-rat seven-strength fruit. After completely digesting the 7 seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas, Zhang Tie felt that his explosiveness increased by more than 40%.

This was a huge, terrifying progress. Precisely, he could throw his javelin at a speed of 1024 m/s, which was 3 times more than the speed of sound transmission in the air, instead of 728 m/s, which was only greater than 2 times the speed of sound transmission in the air. Its maximal effective lethal range also surpassed 1000 m.

According to Heller, unless some top strong fighters who had special abilities, with such a high sound transmission speed Zhang Tie could absolutely stifle more than 98% of 4-star or 5-star strong fighters within 100-200 m.

From then on, most of the strong fighters could not pose any threat to Zhang Tie. For Zhang Tie, he could kill almost any strong fighters by throwing out his javelins. Zhang Tie asked himself, "If I met that animal controller at this moment, I would have ended the battle after throwing out only 1-3 javelins."

"That person might be able to dodge away from my first javelin; however, the consecutive javelins could easily penetrate through him. I can keep throwing javelins towards him endlessly; however, can he keeping moving at that high speed? Of course, he cannot. Because it is absolutely out of the ability of a strong fighter."

Zhang Tie knew that it was a very terrifying ability. After the combination of this ancestral bloodline and seven-strength fruits, his precise throwing ability had already evolved into a terrifying and effective lethal skill.

What was the cost of a javelin? What was the cost of cultivating a LV 10 strong fighter? After realizing the difference, Zhang Tie knew how terrifying and powerful was his throwing skill.

This throwing skill reminded Zhang Tie of the thermal weapons before catastrophe which were featured by extremely high speed and precision, such as a sniper rifle. Zhang Tie felt like carrying a sniper rifle.

Before catastrophe, after a short-term training, a teenager would be able to kill many powerful people with those thermal weapons. So was Zhang Tie.

Perhaps in close battle, because of low level and weaker battle Qi, Zhang Tie might not be able to defeat some LV 10 strong fighters; like how a LV 10 strong fighter boomed Zhang Tie with his battle Qi in the air, as long as the distance was proper, Zhang Tie would be able to throw out his javelins and ended the battle right away. There was no such a regulation that javelins could not be used to counterattack while only allowing LV 10 strong fighters to boom him with battle Qi in the distance!

Zhang Tie knew it well that if he wanted to be powerful, he didn’t have to do a good job on all aspects; instead, he needed to gradually improve his advantage until it was above that of everybody else. When he reached that level, he could even defeat 10000 enemies himself. Regardless of any powerhouse, even the legendary knight could be killed by throwing one javelin. If so, Zhang Tie would truly succeed.

Besides the greater strength brought by the 7 seven-strength fruits of iron-teeth hyenas, Zhang Tie obtained a new skill from the fruit of judgment——Hiding skill.

The preliminary hiding effect could weaken Zhang Tie’s Qi field by 1 energy level. With this skill, Zhang Tie could hide himself in front of powerhouses. Being similar to the tactic——disguising oneself as a pig to eat tiger, he could always hide his real fighting strength so as to not arouse others’ attention.

This effect would last 6 hours. When using it, Zhang Tie’s overall fighting strength would not weaken. According to Heller, after using this hiding rune effect in Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie felt like a senior warrior between LV 4 and LV 5 in the eyes of those powerhouses who had sharp insights.

Zhang Tie was very satisfied with this hiding skill. By now, Zhang Tie had already eaten 3 fruits of judgment and obtained three basic skills——attack, escape and hide. Therefore, Zhang Tie fully expected what other effects could the next fruit of judgment bring him.

The latest fruit of brilliance contained all the spiritual energy of Dawson and that secret animal controller. Soon after eating this fruit, Zhang Tie’s spiritual energy had soared to 160 times of his original base. What a harvest!

Given the harvest, Zhang Tie had one question.

Previously, Zhang Tie felt that his growing spiritual energy seemingly reached a critical point. He felt that he could soon break that invisible ceiling after increasing his spiritual energy a bit. However, although he had increased his spiritual energy a lot during this period, especially in this couple of days, he could still not break that invisible obstacle. Therefore, Zhang Tie started to be perplexed about it.

Remarkably, he could not purely break that obstacle by increasing his spiritual energy. Zhang Tie wondered why would he have that obstacle, whether because each one would have such an obstacle when their spiritual energy reached a certain degree or his level was not high enough. He didn’t know what was behind that obstacle. On the way of individual cultivation, nobody would tell him why, including Heller. Although Heller could tell him the weight and size of each dust in Castle of Black Iron, he could not help Zhang Tie cultivate.

"Cultivation is the most important life experience. In the course of cultivation, each question is actually involved with numerous possibilities and results, which determine different choices as a part of casual chain. It guides you about the meaning of your life. If I tell you the answer, I’m actually determining your life’s direction and kill all the other possibilities. If so, you will lose your freedom to make choice. This goes against the objective and meaning of my existence! If you’ve determined your life’s direction, I can be your good helper; yet I cannot determine your life’s direction!" Heller told Zhang Tie.

Zhang Tie understood it. Therefore, he was not concerned about this question anymore. Given Zhang Tie’s personality, if he could not find the answer, he would not waste time in seeking for the answer; instead, he owed this question to his low level.

However, the benefit of his soaring spiritual energy was remarkable.

In Zhang Tie’s mind, the golden swirl of spiritual energy had further expanded. It was like the swirling galaxy in the sky. In the center of that swirl of spiritual energy were the 3 secret god’s runes that Zhang Tie had obtained. Below the swirl of spiritual energy was the all-spirits pagoda.

In these days, Zhang Tie had formed the last 2 Wild Seals on the 1st storey of the all-spirits pagoda. Zhang Tie chose a "Summon" and a "Amulet". According to the standards of Great Wild Sect, Zhang Tie was already an indoor pupil of Great Wild Sect and was qualified to tell the outsiders that he was an animal controller.

The only difference between Zhang Tie and the animal controllers with the lowest rank was that Zhang Tie had no pet.

Previously, Zhang Tie wanted to try the effect of LV 0 soul-based animal controlling skill; however, after thinking about the warning of that skeleton in the mountain cave, Zhang Tie decided to try it when he would reach the 2nd storey of the all-spirits pagoda.

After forming the last 2 seals on the 1st storey, Zhang Tie changed his clothes and left Castle of Black Iron.

Zhang Tie carried a leather container over his waist which contained 20 palm bolts. Although these palm bolts were a bit weaker than that of javelins and crossbows, Zhang Tie could still use them to easily kill a 2-star strong fighter and many opponents below this rank within 200 m.

Besides that container of palm bolts, Zhang Tie still held the 2 common short javelins.

From then on, Zhang Tie had made a decision, "I will never expose my javelin throwing ability unless critical moment. The alleged trump card should be amazing. I cannot carry javelins and wander everywhere everyday to let everybody know that I could easily kill a strong fighter; otherwise, if my opponent dispatches a fighting master or a great fighting master to kill me, it will be a tragedy! Even the sun would take a rest in the evening to keep long life, not to mention me."

A LV 7 fighter could easily kill a great batch of LV 10 strong fighters. What an amazing news! If it was spread out, Zhang Tie was not sure whether someone who disliked him would dispatch a powerhouse to kill him or not.

When Zhang Tie left Castle of Black Iron, he felt as refreshing as obtaining a new life. However, after being vigorous and ambitious for only 2 seconds, Zhang Tie had turned gloomy in the narrow mountain cave.

Arriving at the entrance of the mountain cave, Zhang Tie squatted to check the small pebbles and the dust on the ground.

His natural trace system had been completely destroyed by others. It indicated that someone had arrived here in these days.

"Is that a coincidence?" Zhang Tie asked himself before carefully observing the inside of the mountain cave. As there was no trace of fire, weeds or sleeping bags inside, Zhang Tie knew that the newcomers didn’t stay here too long.

Of course, the newcomers might not sleep inside the cave at all. For many powerhouses, this was probable. They only needed to enter meditation and cultivate themselves over night. However, if they sat here for a long time, due to the long-term contact between their legs, butts and the ground, they would leave some traces. Pitifully, Zhang Tie found no clues in such a narrow space.

"In the wild, it was least possible if a person followed me in the mountain cave."

"Am I spotted by someone?" the moment this thought flashed across Zhang Tie’s mind, Zhang Tie became gloomy at once.

"Damn it!" Zhang Tie swore in a low voice. "Haven’t I killed that b*stard from Demon Snake Island? Even though they dispatched some more here, it shouldn’t be that quick. Additionally, how could those newcomers find me so precisely?"

"Are they partners of that animal controller?"

An icy light flashed across Zhang Tie’s eyes. Zhang Tie thought a while before putting on the pair of dark tore gloves. Besides defending the battle Qi, this pair of gloves could also make Zhang Tie’s hands more flexible...

After observing the situation outside the mountain cave carefully, Zhang Tie confirmed that no ambush was outside; therefore, he left the mountain cave quickly and sped up towards southwest.

Only after half an hour, in the valley 40 km away from that mountain cave, Zhang Tie finally knew who was chasing him.

Soon after Zhang Tie entered the valley, he had felt the finger ring of awareness on his hand warming up, which indicated that he was followed by someone. Heart racing, Zhang Tie stopped his foot right away.

The moment Zhang Tie stopped, he had seen 2 people standing 200 m away in the front and in the back of him respectively. They blocked his way.

Their Qi fields were very powerful, at least much more powerful than that of Dawson. The one in front of Zhang Tie wore a grim bronze mask. At the sight of this, Zhang Tie’s heart slightly pounded before he let out a sigh. Knowing that they were not fighting masters or great fighting masters, Zhang Tie became confident.

"What do you want? Robbery?" asking this in a muffling sound, Zhang Tie instantly held fast his javelin, intending to defend.

"You’re Peter Hamplester?" the man in front of Zhang Tie asked.

That man’s question aroused Zhang Tie’s whims at once. Zhang Tie then nodded, "Right, I’m Peter Hamplester!"

"We’re wild reward hunters employed by Eschyle City. Your head is worth 5000 gold coins; therefore, we reserve it!"

Hearing this, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded. Realizing the man was going to launch an attack, Zhang Tie hurriedly exclaimed, "Wait, I know I killed a person in Eschyle City and was wanted; but isn’t it 1000 gold coins? Additionally, they don’t want my life on the order for arrest. How come it becomes 5000 gold coins?"

"No more disguise!" the female with mask opened her mouth which startled Zhang Tie, "You killed 2 wild reward hunters who was going to arrest you on Grey Hill cruelly. Have you forgotten about that? Because of this event, the reward rose to 5000 gold coins!"

"What? I killed 2 wild reward hunters who came for me? No way! Besides you two, I’ve not met any other reward hunters since I came to Grey Hill!" Zhang Tie explained seriously, "It must be a mistake!"

"Mistake?" The female in mask sneered as he watched Zhang Tie’s gloves, "We’ve checked the reward hunters’ bodies. Previously, I was curious about those wounds, at the sight of your gloves, I finally understood. You son of b*tch. Do you feel very cool by digging out others’ hearts using your claws? Today, I will show you the color of your heart."

The moment Zhang Tie heard this, he understood it right away. "Those 2 hunters must have met Dawson on Grey Hill and were killed by the latter. That b*stard left me a big trouble even after death."

With a whim of killing the 2 reward hunters, Zhang Tie denied it at once as he recalled Crell’s warning, our bear tribes are not easily provoked. "There are also many powerhouses here. Based on my current fighting strength, I’m not qualified to fight bear tribes. Although I can kill the 2 people, what then? Will the reward rise to 50000 gold coins? Then, 2 more powerful reward hunters will come for me, or I will escape away from Ice and Snow Wildness as the scapegoat for Demon Snake Island?

"What to do? The b*stard Dawson has been dead and already became the sh*t of those beasts on Grey Hill. I have no witness to clarify myself at all."

Various whims flashed across Zhang Tie’s mind. However, Zhang Tie couldn’t find a solution at all.

"F*ck!"

"Humph, you have no excuse, right?" the female’s voice became merciless, "Then, go to hell!"

After saying this, the female rushed in front of Zhang Tie right away. At the same time, she clapped her hands, releasing a pair of palm-sized silver battle Qi towards Zhang Tie from over 10 m away...